Court ruling in California could affect Uber drivers in Oklahoma

The company said plaintiffs Colopy and Gurfinkel “suffer from credibility problems”, pointing to occasions when they allegedly contradicted themselves in depositions on how much control Uber exerted over them as Uber drivers.

Driver Selenge Thompson, for example, was cited as having told Uber that she left corporate work “to be an independent contractor with Uber, so she would never again have to “miss out on so many of (her) daughter’s firsts”, Uber said”.

Uber Technologies is battling efforts by a handful of drivers to sue the ride-hailing company on behalf of the company’s entire California fleet.

In June, the California Labor Commission ruled that Uber driver Barbara Ann Berwick was an employee not a contractor – a potentially landmark ruling that could affect classifications for thousands of workers in the sharing economy. How Uber’s case plays out may help define the future of Internet-enabled companies that depend on casual labor to provide services from home cleaning to food delivery, and even helicopter trips. Uber, like Lyft, TaskRabbit, Etsy and many other online marketplaces, is designed to bridge the gap between individuals who have something to sell and customers who want to buy, without a formal employer sitting in the middle. Some of the drivers are quoted in court filings saying they have no interest in being treated as employees – and might even get fired if bosses at their other jobs found out they were moonlighting for Uber.

In court on Thursday, Uber cited written statements from more than 400 drivers supporting the company. “It’s why there’s no typical driver”. “Lead generation platforms such as Uber similarly coordinate transactions between drivers and passengers”, wrote Professor Justin McRary, an expert hired by Uber, in his testimony. “The reality, however, is that defendants are involved in every aspect of the operation”.

While the state agency’s finding applies to only one driver, it may be influential in how courts rule on the contractor-employee dispute in cases affecting drivers statewide. If allowed to proceed as a class action, the lawsuit could cover more than 160,000 California drivers. Uber rival Lyft is facing a similar suit.

If the lawsuit is limited to just three plaintiffs, rather than being class action, it could save Uber a lot of money. However, the California Labor Commission has slowed this momentum, and given hope to plaintiffs across the US who are embroiled in legal battles with Uber seeking employment status for purposes of overtime wages, employee benefits and in the case of Berwick, expense reimbursements.